Jess' Journeys // A Day on Jekyll Island
Just off of the mainland on the coast of Georgia, there's a little island that used to be a hunting club for the richest of the rich. Now it's a beautiful little beach island called Jekyll Island. On my trip through the Georgia coast, I stopped onto this island to check it out. It was a relaxing visit. The island was well-kept, and I never once felt unsafe or uncomfortable.
The first thing you need to know about Jekyll Island is that when you read online that your GPS won't work, it's 100% true. From the second I turned onto the causeway from the mainland, both my Garmin GPS and the Google Maps app on my phone told me to take a u-turn. I had to call the woman at the Jekyll Island Museum and admit to her that I was lost. She was incredibly nice & helpful, giving me perfect directions.
There's a toll booth on the way onto the island where you pay $6 for the day to park. I'm not sure if there's a discount for longer/overnight trips or for guests of the hotels on the island.
In the middle of the historic district on Jekyll Island, you'll see the Jekyll Island Club hotel. This hotel is in the building that used to be the clubhouse for the original Jekyll Island Club. You should definitely take the time to look up the Jekyll Island Club. It's a pretty neat history.
I had originally booked a tour of the island through Lighthouse Trolly Tours, but since I was the only person that signed up, they called me that morning to let me know the tour was cancelled and ask if I'd like to re-schedule or get a refund. Since I was only there for the day, I had them give me a refund, which still hasn't hit my account two months later. After that, I called the visitor center and reserved a spot on the "Passport to the Century" historic district tour hosted by the Jekyll Island Museum. This tour actually ended up being cheaper than the original tour I booked, and it was really neat. I learned a lot about the Jekyll Island Club, which I knew nothing about before visiting the island.
After my tour, I visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, just across the street from the museum. The main building for the turtle center was really cute. When you buy your ticket ($7 for adults), they give you a card that helps guide you through the exhibits by pretending you're a baby sea turtle, walking you through the life stages and all of the potential issues that sea turtles face. In that same main exhibit room, you can see a little sea turtle named Belle and a window looking in on the medic room where they check the growth of the sea turtles and perform procedures on any injured turtles. After looking through the main building, you can go through the back door, up a ramp, and into the building where they keep the sea turtles that they're rehabilitating. The binder in front of each turtle's pool tells a little bit about that turtle's reason for being at the center and about sea turtles in general. This was the best part of the whole center in my opinion. I even got to see some of the turtles being fed.
After a quick stop in the gift shop, I was off to find the infamous driftwood beach. This is where the majority of pictures you see of Jekyll Island are taken. Since my GPS wasn't working, I looked online to see if I could figure out how to get there, and off I went. I decided just to drive toward the north end of the island since that's all of the information I could find online.
On the way, I happened across Horton House on Riverview Drive. This is a really neat example of how well tabby structures can survive over time. Tabby is a type of concrete that a lot of old houses along the Georgia coast were built. It's made by combining crushed, burned oyster shells with water & whole oyster shells. It is amazingly strong. After a quick look at Horton House and the du Bignon cemetery, I was back on my mission of finding driftwood beach.
I really could not tell you how to find driftwood beach if I tried. After a phone call to my mother who was also looking at Google maps online, we determined that it was probably just north of Villas by the Sea Resort and Conference Center. I pulled off of Beachview Drive into a tiny, sand parking lot, parked my car, and went exploring. The little sand lot was the perfect spot! I followed a tiny, sandy trail to the beach, figuring that I'd have to walk along the beach for a while to find the "driftwood beach" part. I was wrong. I turned left onto the beach, and I was at the beginning of driftwood beach, which seemed to stretch on forever. There were so many more driftwood trees than I had imagined. It's a sight that I can't explain other than saying that you've got to see it for yourself. The trees were all over the place, roots and all.
I walked much further down the beach than I realized, and I almost got lost on the way back. It's really hard to remember which specific gnarly tree you walked onto the beach next to when they're allgnarly. That's okay though. I just had to walk along the relaxing beach a little longer.
Once I got back to my car, it was off the island I went, back to the hotel I was staying in on St. Simon's Island. On the way off of the island, I noticed the visitor center. It's the perfect place to stop for clean bathrooms, brochures about the area, and gifts. I wish I had noticed it on the way in.
I really think I could get used to this relaxing island life.
